October 2008

Oktoberfest!

Sunday, October 12, is the opening day of our thirteenth annual Oktoberfest. At 5 p.m. is our Autumn Choral Vespers, followed by our annual bratwurst banquet (we call it the best party in town!). Members, if you’ve never yet come to this gala affair, it’s past time you did. Let’s see all of our members enjoying the festive occasion together this year!

On Monday morning, following Holy Mass at 9:30, the Oktoberfest seminar runs until 3:15 p.m.

On Tuesday, a liturgical seminar is again planned for a roundtable discussion seeking uniformity in our worship practices. Informed Lutheran clergy are particularly invited to provide input and exchange of ideas, although all are invited to stay for the day.

This year we are pleased to welcome four guests who have in recent years taken the walk across the rickety bridge from Wisconsin to Missouri. Our conference theme is “A Tale of Two Synods.”

Several years ago the Reverend Fr. Peter Berg, pastor of Our Savior Lutheran Church in Chicago, having been removed from the roster of the WELS, was received into the LCMS. This year his brother, the Reverend Fr. John Berg, pastor of Hope Ev. Lutheran Church in Fremont, California, has taken the same trek. In the meantime the Reverend Fr. Aaron Moldenhauer, pastor of Zion Lutheran Church in Beecher, Illinois, made the same move during his seminary training. He will be accompanied by his wife Tabitha, a scholar in her own right, who will provide a confessional Lutheran perspective on women’s issues. This year both Berg brothers became associate editors of Gottesdienst, and Fr. Moldenhauer received the journal’s Sabre of Boldness award for 2008.

REGISTRATION: $25 per person (students $20) $40 per couple — includes Sunday banquet and Monday continental and luncheon; no charge for children with parents.

To register, send an email with Oktoberfest as the subject. Give us your name, title, address, and intentions: coming Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday, or portions thereof. We'll sign you up; you may pay the registration fee when you arrive. Click here.

October Ushers
Steve Peart, Grant Andresen, Larry Campbell

October Birthdays
10/1 Richard Melchin
10/1 Clara Murphy
10/2 Diana Shreck
10/3 Matthew Fisher
10/5 Michael McReynolds
10/9 Mary Ann Hamilton
10/9 Kevin Thompson
10/10 Stanley Janik
10/10 Paul Rowe
10/15 Dennis Schoen
10/20 Ed Woller
10/24 Robert Jones
10/24 Corey Peart
10/28 Carmen Sovanski
10/28 Collin Van Stechelman
10/30 Sharon Hartz
10/31 Marjorie Lamb

October Anniversaries
10/4 Linda and Larry Rowe
10/23 Otis and Deanne Anderson

Shut ins
Carole Sanders at home (update: expected to move back home Sunday, September 28th; hoping to be back in church the following Sunday!);
Mary Hamilton at home; Ruth Snider at home; Mark Baker at home, and Anna Baker at home. Jack Stewart and Evelyn Heinrich at Kewanee Care; Mirilda Greiert at Courtyard Estates; Elva Garrison at Avon Nursing Home; Ruth Melchin at Hillcrest Home; Jane Melchin at Lutheran Home, Peoria.

Mary Hamilton at home; Ruth Snider at home; Mark Baker at home, and Anna Baker at home. Jack Stewart and Evelyn Heinrich at Kewanee Care; Mirilda Greiert at Courtyard Estates; Elva Garrison at Avon Nursing Home; Ruth Melchin at Hillcrest Home; Jane Melchin at Lutheran Home, Peoria.

First Monday Meetings

Our first Monday meetings for October will not be in session; all Altar Guild members and Elders are urged to attend Oktoberfest the following weekend.

Altar Guild Notes

The Altar Guild met on Monday, September 15th. The number of hosts to put out for Wednesdays was set at 14. Some calendar adjustments were discussed, but not all matters were decided; and since the Altar Guild will not be meeting in October, the following schedule is needed.

Special note: at two Saturday masses (5:30 pm), October 18th and November 1st, special saints’ days are going to be observed. The altar color is red for those days, and changes to green for the following day, Sunday

Wednesday, October 1: of Michaelmas: White

Sat and Sun, October 4 and 5: Green
Sat and Sun, October 11 and 12 (am): Green

Oktoberfest: October 12 (pm) and 13, Mission Festival: Red

Octoberfest: Tuesday, October 14: Green
Wednesday, October 15: Green

Saturday, October 18 (5:30 Mass only), St. Luke: Red

Sunday, October 19: Green

Sat and Sun, October 25-26, Reformation: Red
Wednesday, October 29, SS Simon and Jude: Red
Saturday, November 1 (5:30 Mass only), All Saints: Red

Sunday, November 2: Green

Wednesday, November 5, All Souls: White

Then Green until Wednesday, November 26: Eve of Thanksgiving: White

Sat and Sun, Nov 29 and 30, Advent: Purple


Know Anyone Who Might Need a Visit?

If ever you become aware of a member who might have a special need or desire for a pastoral visit, please contact Pastor to let him know. 852-2460.

A Letter from Siberian Lutheran Mission Society

Dear friends at St. Paul’s,
Your continued support is a blessing. Thank you for your faithfulness. Your recent donation of $100.oo has been designated for the congregation in Chita.
I’ve enclosed a copy of a recent newsletter from Siberia [this is posted in the hallway] that chronicles Bishop Lytkin’s recent visit to Eastern Siberia, including the congregation in Chita. The enclosed photos show the entry into the village of Edininie and parishioners in Edininie, parishioners after the worship service in Chita and a view of Edininie. Bishop Lytkin, Pastor Igor Kizyaev and Pastor Khramov can be seen in these shots. The second page includes a photo of an outdoor site where pagans worship even today, a shot of at Trans-Siberian railroad station, a picture of Pastor Pavel Zayakin with t ever present statues of the communist era, reminders of the dictatorship of the proletariat and finally, an example of the dirt and gravel roads that must be traversed to reach some of these remote parishes.

Thank you, especially for remembering the SLMS at this time. I can assure you that your gift will be used very carefully by Christ’s stewards in Siberia and will help to support them in their most basic daily needs. Please keep these faithful servants in your prayers.
In Christ,
Elizabeth A. Meyer
Secretary/Treasurer

Junior Catechism on Saturdays

Beginning September 13th, Catechism class has been held at 9 a.m. on Saturdays. Anyone is welcome to join us.

Kimball Organ Available

Anyone interested in a Kimball organ for home use, contact Duane Sanders, who has one to unload.

The Lighter Side

Ya Gotta Luv The South

ALABAMA
The Sheriff pulled up next to the guy unloading garbage out of his pick-up into the ditch. The Sheriff asked, 'Why are you dumping garbage in the ditch? Don't you see that sign right over your head'. 'Yep', he replied. 'That's why I'ma dumpin it here, cause it says 'Fine For Dumping Garbage'.

LOUISIANA
A senior at LSU was overheard saying... 'When the end of the world comes, I hope to be in Louisiana.' When asked why, he replied he'd rather be in Louisiana because everything happens in Louisiana 20 years later than in the rest of the civilized world.

MISSISSIPPI
The young man from Mississippi came running into the store and said to his buddy, 'Bubba, somebody just stole your pickup truck from the parking lot!' Bubba replied, 'Did you see who it was?' The young man answered, 'I couldn't tell, but I got his license number.'

GEORGIA
A Georgia State trooper pulled over a pickup on I-75. The trooper asked, 'Got any I. D.?' The driver replied, 'Bout whut?'

TENNESSEE
A man in Tennessee had a flat tire, pulled off on the side of the road, and proceeded to put a bouquet of flowers in front of the car and one behind it. Then he got back in the car to wait. A passerby studied the scene as he drove by and was so curious he turned around and went back. He asked the fellow what the problem was. The man replied, 'I got a flat tare.' The passerby asked, 'But what's with the flowers?' The man responded, 'When you break down they tell ya to put flares in the front and flares in the back. Hey, it don't make no sense to me neither.'

ARKANSAS
'You can say what you want about the South, but I ain't never heard of anyone wanting to retire to the North!


The Lutheran Variation of the Canon of the Mass

Preliminary matters for discussion at our liturgical seminar at Oktoberfest at St. Paul’s, Tuesday, October 14th, 2008.

The Roman Canon of the Mass

Since the time of Gregory the Great (AD 590-604), the liturgy of the Western Church, centered in Rome, has been marked by a uniform liturgy with respect to the consecration and distribution of the Holy Sacrament. This liturgy has been called the Canon of the Mass, probably because the term “canon” means rule. This is the regulation by which all their churches are to celebrate the Mass.
The canon is introduced by the Preface, which centers in the words “Lift up your hearts” and concludes with the Santus (“Holy, holy, holy,” etc.).
The entire canon is set into the form of a prayer, and is structured as follows:

I. The prayers before the consecration
A. Te Igitur. “We therefore humbly pray . . . accept and bless these gifts, these presents, these holy unspotted Sacrifices, which . . . we offer Thee for Thy holy Catholic Church . . . with N. our Pope, and N. our Bishop, and all orthodox believers . . .
B. Commenorations for the Living [including intentions for the sick and others]
C. Invocation of the saints [including the B.V.M., the twelve apostles, and twelve early saints]
D. Proper communicantes for the season

II. the prayers at the Consecration
A. Hanc igitur. “We therefore beseech Thee, O Lord, graciously to accept this oblation of our service . . .
B. Quam oblationem. “Which oblation . . . make worthy . . . that it may be made for us the Body and Blod of thy most beloved Son Jesus Christ our Lord.
C. Consecration of the Host. “Who, the day before He suffered, took bread in His holy and venerable hands, and with His eyes lifted up toward heaven . . . blessed it, broke it, and gave it to His disciples, saying, Take and eat . . . FOR THIS IS MY BODY.
D. Concecration of the Wine. “In like manner . . . FOR THIS IS THE CHALICE OF MY BLOOD . . .”
E. Oblation of the victim to God. “Wherefore, L Lord, we Thy servants . . . do offer unto Thy most excellentMajesty of Thine own Gifts bestowed upon us, a pure Host . . and the Chalice of everlasting salvation.
F. Supra quae propitio. Upon this vouchsafe to look . . . as thou wert graciously pleased to accept the gifts of thy just servant Abel, and the sacrifice of our patriarch Abraham, and that which Thy high priest Melchisedech offered to Thee, a holy Sacrifice, an unspotted Victim.
G. Supplices te. We most humbly beseech Thee, almighty God, command these offerings to be borne by the hands of Thy holy Angels to Thine altar on high . . .

III. The prayers after the consecration.
A. Commenoration of the dead.
B. Invocation of the Sants [including fifteen other early saints]
C. Minor elevation.
D. the Communion: “Let us pray. Instructed by Thy saving precepts . . . bold to say: Our Father . . .
E. Libera Nos and Division of the Host “ . . . grant peace in our days . . .
F. Mixture of the Body and Blood. [the Pax, then, “May this mixture and consecration . . .”

Then follows the Agnus Dei, etc.

The Lutheran Variation

Anyone familiar with the Lutheran Liturgy will be able, upon even a cursory consideration of the Roman Mass, to see that what Luther did was radically to reduce and omit entire sections of this canon. In his mind the greatest obstacle to the freedom of the Gospel was its obscuration by the layers upon layers of mystery and regulation. Much of what the priest said was in a low voice, barely heard, and all of it was in Latin, which, while once the language of the people, had by his day become another layer of impediment. One had to learn Latin in school in order to understand the Mass.

Hence, when he learned of the free gift of the mercy of God in Christ and His Gospel, and found that the entire medieval labyrinth of various levels of merits and works was working directly against the proclamation of Christ, he not only rejected the system of merits altogether, but took himself to removing the impediments to this proclamation in the Mass as well.

And so by this bold move of stripping away all of what he saw as unnecessary preparations and prayers, he sought to leave only the words of Christ at the heart of the Mass.

When seen in the context of his other reforms, it is perhaps not too difficult to see him as having done this not merely because he thought the mass was too long or laborious as it was, but because he saw it as having too much by way of preliminaries. Rather like our Lord Himself who drove the moneychangers out of the Temple, Luther drove away indulgences, merits, works of supererogation, and, in the same vein, the extraneous prayers of the canon.

All that remained when he was finished were the Words of Institution (the Verba) and the Our Father, the latter of which he moved in front of the Verba and more as an ingredient or summary of the Prayer of the Church than as a part of the Canon.

A Lutheran Canon

Though it is commonly said that Luther thus removed the Canon of the Mass in its entirety, it bears remembering that the original sense of the term canon was likely to have been behind its use here: something uniform and regulated.

In our day this has been largely lost, and even among confessional Lutherans there is a considerable amount of variation regarding what constitutes the invariables of the Mass.

In the name of Luther many have slashed away much more than he did, and replaced it with the fruits of their own whims and imaginations. Here is where the battle is being raged in our day. Therefore it has become necessary for us Lutheran Christians, who desire, in the spirit of the Gospel which Luther sought to promote and proclaim, to seek to recover some of the uniformity which has eroded or become altogether lost.

The Lutheran Liturgy has been abandoned in many of our own circles.

The pendulum has, as it were, swung too far in the other direction. Hence our desire and efforts to begin in earnest to determine what we might agree upon for the reestablishment of a common liturgical rule and uniformity for our celebration of the Sacrament of the Altar.